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Recipe: Godspeed Ochame Green Tea IPA
Courtesy of Luc Lafontaine of Godspeed in Toronto, this unusual IPA recipe represents a fusion of influences. (It also includes tips for extracting flavor and aroma from green tea without unwanted tannins.)
Photo: Courtesy Godspeed Brewery
For this unusual IPA, Godspeed uses green tea from Brewmaster Luc Lafontaine’s own tea field in Japan. Ochame, incidentally, means mischievous. Lafontaine says the beer “succinctly encapsulates our certain core tenets of our humble brewery, namely, balance and simplicity. Enjoy!”
For more about this distinctive Toronto brewery, check out Breakout Brewer: Godspeed.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.011
IBUs: 45
ABV: 6%
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For this unusual IPA, Godspeed uses green tea from Brewmaster Luc Lafontaine’s own tea field in Japan. Ochame, incidentally, means mischievous. Lafontaine says the beer “succinctly encapsulates our certain core tenets of our humble brewery, namely, balance and simplicity. Enjoy!”
For more about this distinctive Toronto brewery, check out Breakout Brewer: Godspeed.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.011
IBUs: 45
ABV: 6%
[PAYWALL]
MALT/GRAIN BILL
6.6 lb (3 kg) two-row pale
2.1 lb (953 g) pilsner
1.4 lb (635 g) flaked oats
12 oz (340 g) Munich I
HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
1.4 ml hop extract (55% AA) at 80 minutes [35 IBUs]
0.4 oz (11 g) Perle at 15 minutes [4.5 IBUs]
1 tsp (5 ml) yeast nutrient at 15 minutes
1.4 oz (40 g) Perle at 5 minutes [6 IBUs]
1.1 oz (31 g) Japanese green tea at flameout/whirlpool (see below)
0.5 oz (14 g) Cascade at dry hop
0.5 oz (14 g) Perle at dry hop
0.5 oz (14 g) Japanese green tea at dry hop
YEAST
White Labs WLP001 California Ale
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 147°F (64°C) for 45 minutes, aiming for a pH of 5.2–5.3. Raise the temperature to 171°F (77°C) and run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 6.5 gallons (25 liters) of wort—or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Use lactic acid, if necessary, to adjust the pH to 5.2 pre-boil. Boil for 90 minutes, adding hop extract, hops, and yeast nutrient according to the schedule. After the boil, add the tea, with a few options to avoid extracting unpleasant tannins:
- Conduct a whirlpool step, cooling to about 160°F (71°C) if possible before adding the tea and steeping 5 minutes.
- Run wort through the tea in a hopback while chilling.
- Infuse the tea separately in some wort at about 160°F (71°C) for just 5 minutes and add to the fermentor.
Chill to 68°F (20°C), aerate well, and pitch the yeast (pitch rate: 1 million cells/ml/°P). Ferment at 68°F (20°C), allowing the temperature to rise to 72°F (22°C) after 2 days. When fermentation is complete, drop the yeast or rack before adding the tea and dry hops. Cool to 50°F (10°C) and dry hop 3 days, then crash to 33°F (0.5°C) and condition for 10–14 days. Optionally, use a 1-micron strainer to filter when packaging. Carbonate to 2.4–2.5 volumes.
